又中又英｜Boiling Frog Syndrome

Every morning, I spend about an hour combing through the internet for the latest Hong Kong, US, and global news. Combing through news websites and YouTube news videos helps me get ideas for the columns I write for this newspaper. To comb through something means to search it to find what you need. While combing through the internet recently, I came across two interesting expressions an American politician used during a news interview. I have used these expressions many times while chatting with foreign friends, but not many Hong Kong people use them.

One is Boiling Frog Syndrome. This metaphor has an interesting meaning. If you put a frog in boiling water, it will instantly jump out to avoid being boiled to death. But if you put a frog in water that is slowly boiling, the frog will adjust and doesn’t sense danger until it is too late to jump out. The metaphor is used to describe a situation in which people don’t notice a worsening problem or a gradual change, trying instead to adjust, until it is too late to do anything about it. Frogs, in reality, of course, feel water that is slowly boiling and will try to escape.

The other expression I came across is “a bridge too far”. This idiom has a simpler meaning. It means doing something that is too ambitious or drastic, resulting in problems or failure. Some American politicians have suggested changing the US Constitution so that President Donald Trump can run for a third term. But others say it is a bridge too far because it is extremely difficult to change the US Constitution.

每朝早我都會花一個小時，徹底搜索（combing through）網上關於香港、美國以及世界最新的新聞。搜尋（combing through）新聞網站及YouTube新聞頻道有助我給這份報章寫專欄時獲取靈感。To comb through something是指去搜尋某事以取得你所需要的。當我最近搜索（combing through）網絡時，我遇到兩個有趣的習語，是一個美國政客在一個新聞訪問中所用到的。我跟外國朋友聊天的時候，多次用到這些習語，但香港人會用到的卻不多。

其中一個是 Boiling Frog Syndrome，這個比喻有一個有趣的意思。若你將一隻青蛙放在沸水中，牠會立即跳出來，以防被煮滾至死。但若你將青蛙放於慢慢煮熱的水中，青蛙會調節自己，並不能感到危險，直到牠意識到的時候已經太遲了。溫水煮蛙這個比喻是用來形容人並不察覺一個逐漸變差的問題，又或漸進的轉變，反倒嘗試調節，到想解決的時候已經太遲了。在現實中，青蛙當然能感到水正在慢慢煮沸，並且會嘗試逃逸。

另一個我遇到的習語是“a bridge too far”，這個成語的意思更顯淺。它是指某件事過於好高騖遠、不設實際，最終帶來問題又或達成不了。一些美國政客提議修改美國憲法，好讓總統唐納德‧特朗普能競逐第三個任期。但其他人說這實在太遙不可及（a bridge too far）了，因為要修改美國憲法是極其艱難的。

mickchug@gmail.com
Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻